Discovered the Viking settlement that will rewrite the history of Iceland. It is the oldest ever found

    The Vikings were in Iceland as early as 800 AD: this is what suggests the oldest settlement ever found before and which will rewrite the history of the island

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    The Vikings were in Iceland as early as 800 AD: this is what suggests the oldest settlement ever found before, now found in Stöð, in the fjords of Stöðvarfjörður: it is a tribal hut of 75 meters by 6 and dates back to when this people still looked like absent on the island. Is Icelandic history to be rewritten?





    Up to now, the Vikings were believed to have settled in Iceland when some maritime refugees had occupied the island during a voyage. But not in 800 AD, but several decades later. Apparently wrong, because this exceptional find of Viking origin it is from that era.

    The buildings appear to consist of large wooden halls, up to 75 meters long, covered with grass and straw and used as common dwellings during the Viking era. They were divided into rooms and could be shared by several families. Scholars believe that fires were built in stone hearths in the center and that animals were placed there so that they were protected from the cold.

    Discovered the Viking settlement that will rewrite the history of Iceland. It is the oldest ever found

    © Bjarni Einarsson

    And it does not end there, because the hut that "upset" the history of Iceland was discovered under a younger settlement full of treasures and the archeologists think that it all belonged to a sort of "seasonal village".

    "The youngest find is the richest in Iceland - Bjarni Einarsson, who heads the private archaeological company that took care of the excavations, reports to Live Science - It is likely it was the residence of a chieftain".

    This most recent, in particular, dates back to around 874 AD, a commonly accepted period for the Icelandic settlement of seafarers who, according to tradition, fled from the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. But it has been discovered yet full of treasures, among the most precious ever found in Scandinavia.

    Discovered the Viking settlement that will rewrite the history of Iceland. It is the oldest ever found

    © Bjarni Einarsson

    The find includes in fact Roman and Middle Eastern silver coins, pieces of silver cut and folded used as ingots or currency by the Vikings (people considered very rude but lately revalued) but also by other ancient peoples, as well as decorative glass beads, rings, weights and a small fragment of gold.



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    Archaeologists believe that the inhabitants bought these goods by trading in local resources, such as skins and meat from whales and seals, which are highly prized throughout Viking Scandinavia.

    And under this immense patrimony there was one even older structure which chemical and physical analyzes suggest dates back to the 800th century, long before the Viking permanent settlement in Iceland, an island still closely linked to its origins. It is believed that this was of a "seasonal" type, occupied only by local workers who needed to stay in the area in summer or autumn.

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    But the fact that it was not permanent does not change the scope of the discovery: beyond the tradition of Norwegian fugitives, bordering on legend, it was not thought that in the 800th century there had ever been Vikings in Iceland. And that's what will rewrite the history of the island.

    Discovered the Viking settlement that will rewrite the history of Iceland. It is the oldest ever found

    © Bjarni Einarsson


    "We know that the westernmost part of the oldest building was a forge [for working with metal] - the only one inside a structure so far known in Iceland - explains Einarsson - [...] It was a model of settlement in the islands of the Atlantic Ocean: it started with the seasonal fields and then settled permanently.


    Part of a work begun in 2007, the project was funded by the Icelandic Archaeological Fund, the region's municipal government, as well as businesses and the local population.

    Sources of reference: Live Science

    Read also:

    • Viking diet: how it works, what to eat, weekly schedule and contraindications
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